


First Step

by Moonrose91



Series: The Call of the Dragon [8]
Category: DragonFable
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-01
Updated: 2013-11-07
Packaged: 2017-11-15 10:18:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/526202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonrose91/pseuds/Moonrose91
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everything must begin.</p><p>And a hero's journey always begins long before the first step down that road.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Ice Clings

Asivia sighed as she ran her hand along the staff Mage Gonny had given her as a present for finishing lessons.

She couldn’t learn anything more from Mage Gonny now.

The rest, the mage insisted, would come with time. Maybe even a calling, like the Blue Mage, though Asivia had no such ambition.

Six years was not long enough to remove the pain of losing her father and mother in one stroke from her heart completely, but now it was a gentle twinge, like one from an old wound that had long scarred over. She hesitated as she stared at the room in her home and remembered when the inn had been taken up and renamed. When they were told that her mother would recover with time, and when the dragons began to attack in earnest. “How long are you going to stand there and stare at your staff?” Fenrir asked from behind her and she turned to look at him.

He stepped into her room, blonde hair catching the sunlight that managed to make it in, and she rushed forward, wrapping her arms tightly around him, her staff clattering to the floor. He immediately wrapped his arms around her and took a deep breath as she buried her head into his shoulder. She was shaking slightly and if the smell of salt didn’t tip him off, the slowly dampening spot would have told him she was crying.

“Oh, Asivia, my Asivia, my Arctic grass,” he murmured softly, as he did when nightmares of cold claws woke her choking for air, and Fenrir having smelled her distress long before Galanoth could awaken from sobbing screams.

He always rushed to her side when her broken sobs reached him and nothing drove fear away like knowing her Dragon Slayer uncle and her really a giant wolf ‘brother’ that was at least a millennia old being there for her.

She wouldn’t have that now though.

She would be on her own, alone, and without that comfort she had grown used to.

“Everything will be fine, don’t you worry,” Fenrir whispered softly and she nodded a bit against his shoulder. He pat her back and slowly stepped back, his ‘bracelets’ dull, even in the sunlight and she pulled a handkerchief out of her trouser pocket before she wiped her face off. Fenrir smiled a bit, wondering where her mage robes were before remembering that she didn’t have them.

Most got mage robes lined with their teacher’s color along with a color of their choosing, made by the teacher themselves, but Mage Gonny was Mage Gonny.

She was mostly a healer and, despite carrying the name, everyone knew that her training had been scattered, at best.

A knock on the door had Asivia calling for them to come in and Galanoth stepped in. “Should have known, when Suneater Helms was closed,” he greeted, a package in his hands.

Fenrir gave a nod and stepped aside as the large Dragon Slayer stepped forward. He then held it out to Asivia. She took it and opened it, the brown paper falling to the floor as a black robe with white trim remained gripped in her hands.

“I know it is not traditional, for the north, but I couldn’t send my niece out without proper robes,” Galanoth stated.

She nearly battered, or cracked, her own bones as she threw herself at Galanoth, giving the armored man a tight of hug as she could.

Fenrir knew she would be gone, for now, and would return when she did.

But if he didn’t let her go, well…

That destruction, that change, would churn and crash, spreading out, with Asivia on the sidelines.

And she was the one who should be in the eye of the storm.

His nose twitched slightly as she threw her robe on over her outfit, hiding her trousers and loose tunic before she grinned up at Galanoth. That was the only warning he had before she hugged him again.

This was it.

The last moment together as a family until she came back home.

She had her bag and that was that. Her staff was in hand and the resident gryffon was ready to take off with her.

She was ready.

“See you later, Fen. Take care. Don’t destroy the town,” she stated, hugging him tightly before she released him.

“Love you,” she added and then turned to Galanoth, extracting promises to be careful, before telling him she would see him later and stating ‘love you,’ as well.

And then she was gone.

She had already made them promise not to see her off and Fenrir took a deep breath, deep enough to make his lungs hurt, and then let it all out.

By Lore, it was difficult to let her go.

He hated doing it, but she was a free spirit and chaining her down would only hurt in the end.

“You want to go hunt her down and drag her back, kicking and screaming?” Galanoth questioned.

“Yep,” Fenrir answered.

“We can’t, can we?”

“Nope.”

Galanoth sighed and then went to go take his guard post while Fenrir went back to his shop.

And, if they saw a gryffon taking off across the sky, winging for official Adventurer registration well…there was no one around to tell Asivia that little fact.


	2. Meetings at a Cliff Side

Asivia let out a sigh as she stared out from the cliff she had managed to get to, thinking back on three hours ago.

Registering to be an adventurer had taken both more and less time then she had expected. It had taken more in that she hadn’t realized she would need to fill out paperwork.

It took less because she had thought there would be more people.

As it was, she had seen two female Warriors, one male Warrior, one Male Rogue, and two male Mages.

The female Warriors were similar in appearance and build, one in white armor that had blue trim, the other in pale green armor with black trim. Both had brown hair, though the white armored Warrior had it in a braid while the other had it cropped short, with tanned skin, and dark eyes.

The male Warrior had bright blue hair and red skin. She wasn’t sure if he was actually human or not, but he had been wearing just straight black armor and had been talking easily with the male Rogue.

The male Rogue was also wearing straight black. While one dagger was firmly sheathed at his side, the other had been flipped around his hands. He had blonde hair, darker then Fenrir’s, but he reminded her so much of him that it took all of her self-control not to go over to him and ask.

Fenrir could not leave their home.

He was not there, in this tent at a crossroads that would take each to the destination they so wished.

The mages held little interest for her and, if she had to be pressed, she could not have given a description.

Considering how much paperwork Asivia had to fill out, she chose to use that as an excuse to stop looking at the other adventurers.

Now, after hiking up to this cliff and realizing that Lore seemed to stretch on for forever, she wished for companionship.

She was not used to being…

She let out a yelp as she was smacked upside the head with something and turned to find Samus the Braydenball bouncing cheerfully next to her. “Samus, I told you to stay home!” she exclaimed.

He merely continued to bounce around her cheerfully and she sighed. “Fine. You can stay,” she stated and Samus bounced onto her shoulder before he went back to her pack.

She rubbed her head and sighed, before she felt something.

Something stirred in her heart and in the back of her mind and…

The song was different, but it was there.

And it was _loud_.

Well, by comparison.

She was so focused on the song she didn’t see the big red dragon until his swoop nearly sent her flying off the edge of the cliff. She let out a yelp and looked up, staring at the way he (she didn’t know why her mind insisted on ‘he’) easily maneuvered through the sky, winging out and all Asivia could think, even as her uncle’s words on dragons and how they were evil and such echoed in the very back of her mind, was…

_I have never seen anything so wondrous._

He landed right in front of the cliff and almost seemed to glower at her. She braced herself, sure now, with her Uncle Galanoth shouting at her in the back of her mind, that she was about to become a dragon’s snack when he suddenly lowered his head so his neck could be a bridge.

And there, sitting between his wings, was a woman in white with golden trimmed robes. The gray hair was peeking out from under the hood and Asivia couldn’t name her eye color.

And then the red Moglin walked over. “Hiyas!” he greeted and Asivia blinked in surprise before the moglin told the ‘priestess’ that it was all clear.

Asivia stepped out of their way and the Priestess gave a polite greeting.

Asivia could barely remember to return it.

As the priestess walked away the red Moglin, the big red dragon seemed to be glowering at her, as if contemplating eating her before he just…took off. This time, she was unable to keep her balance and fell backwards onto her rump.

She watched as he flew up, all power and contained fury and…

And she had a feeling that her uncle Galanoth was right and wrong about such beings.

She was shaking when she finally managed to pull herself off the ground.

And she couldn’t seem to stop.


	3. Dust and Dirt and Scrapes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The events portrayed in the following chapter are not exact to what you should expect in the actual game's events.

Asivia began to walk down the path, hoping she could gather up a map on her way when she heard the Moglin shouting. “I’ll protect you Priestess!”

Asivia looked up, just in time to see the Moglin flying through the air. She didn’t have time to brace herself before the Moglin crashed into chest. She fell back once more, barely managing to prevent herself from crashing onto her back, instead landing painfully on her left shoulder. She automatically reached around to keep the Moglin from hitting the ground, and she let out a low groan before her eyes fell on the big, furry, gray beast with great tusks. “What is that?” she asked as she slowly moved to stand up, still holding the Moglin.

“That’s a Gorillaphant! Hurry! The Priestess is in danger!” he shouted and Asivia only paused long enough to grab her staff before she rushed forward. She spun the staff around in her right hand and sent an orb of… _Nature_ magic. She channeled it through the staff instead of through her hand like she normally would.

The Gorillaphant immediately turned with a roar and the Moglin leapt out of her grip. She didn’t have time to throw up a staff when the Gorillaphant _slammed_ his tusks into her side. She stumbled, barely able to keep her balance, and she threw another orb of magic, this time channeling it through her body. Her shoulder screamed with agony as she felt the mana surge through her body and formed into an orb as she threw it with all her strength at the Gorillaphant. She was shaking and managed to get a shield up in time as it tried to slam his fists into her from above.

She shivered under the force and she threw another orb, wondering if she should switch hands as her shoulder burned. It missed and she twisted slightly, though she got hit again, hitting the ground under the force. She didn’t pause to stand before she sent another orb, though she was on her feet in time to get hit by the tusks again.

She thought she felt something…give under the force at her side. She stumbled and threw her another orb of mana. She blinked in surprise as it collapsed and she faced the Priestess who smiled. “I think you, Mage for your help,” she stated.

“It wasn’t a problem, Priestess,” Asivia managed to get out, even as she leaned on her staff.

The Priestess seemed to consider her and suddenly pulled out a cloth wrapped…something. “Here is a show of my appreciation for your help, Mage,” she stated and Asivia carefully took it, surprised a bit by the weight, and she unwrapped it with shaking fingers to reveal a necklace, specifically one that had a golden dragon, with raised wings and lifted head staring out holding a spherical red gem.

The Priestess stepped forward, startling Asivia slightly, as the Priestess carefully lifted it out of her hands, revealing that it was a necklace and carefully settled it over her head one-handed.

“I didn’t get your name,” the Priestess stated as she shifted the box back to both hands, careful in holding it.

“But, Priestess, you said her name was Asivia…” the Moglin began and the Priestess sighed.

“Twilly…” she warned and smiled.

“Please tell Captain Rolith that I’ve gone ahead, to Falconreach through this shortcut,” she stated and began to walk off.

Asivia stared at after her, listening to the way she kept getting Twilly to stop talking.

And she felt warmth spread from the necklace, through her robe, into her heart.

She barely twitched when Samus the Braydenball hopped out, bouncing next to her in a concerned manner.

She held out her hand and he bounced into the palm of her hand, before stilling for a few seconds and altering his bounce to be barely a shift. “Let’s get to Oaklore Keep,” she stated and he bounced off her hand, cheerfully following her as she made her way, dusty and bruised, toward Oaklore Keep.

The Braydenball bounced next to her the entire way.


	4. Captain Rolith and the Knights of Pun

Asivia limped through the gateway and she stepped down odd as she took another step, causing her to stumble.

She probably would have pitched onto her face, if someone hadn't caught her. She accepted the help without a thought and looked up to find herself staring up into the face of a young man, probably close to her age. He had pale blonde hair, too cropped and too light to be Fenrir's shade, and pale skin. He was wearing a gray armor with dark blue trim, about ready to swear that he was one of the Pactogonal Knight, except that she didn't know what a Pactogonal Knight would actually look like.

And then she realized she was staring and flushed in embarrassment, looking away as he helped her stand up, when a voice asked, "What's going on?"

She looked up to find a man striding over, dressed as if he ran the keep, the...really weird symbol on his armor.

Oh,  _that_  was a Pactogonal Knight.

"Captain Rolith, I was just catching her before she face-planted. I was going assist her to Sir Junn’s infirmary,” the man supporting her stated.

 _That_ was Captain Rolith?

Asivia struggled to stand up straight, to deliver her message, but found that she was tired, and in pain, and decided that if she got a few moments of rest, the Priestess wouldn’t die.

Probably.

Captain Rolith was about to respond when he was distracted from them by one of the knights. She let out a soft grunt as the man helped her more to her feet, Samus the Braydenball bouncing close by, possibly debating attacking the male before they began to head to the left.

“I’m Henry Vive, by the way,” he introduced.

“Asivia…Asivia Izo, actually. I just never use my last name,” she responded, letting out a soft sound as he hefted her more up onto her own feet.

“Sorry, but if you trip, it’ll hurt more,” he stated and she held onto him as they made their way into the infirmary.

“ _Another_?” a man asked and Henry just laughed.

“Nah. This is Asivia. She just stumbled in. I think a few potions will fix her up,” he stated and Asivia facepalmed.

“You have some, don’t you?” Henry asked and she nodded.

This time the man who he exclaimed ‘another’ laughed as well.

“Well, have her sit down. Asivia is it? I haven’t heard that name…well, in a few years,” the man stated and cleared his throat a little as Henry helped her sit.

The man was suddenly in her face and he gave a nod before handing her a potion. “Drink that all down. You should be fine afterwards, but still tired. I’d offer you a bed, but as you can see, we are filled to capacity,” he stated.

Asivia obeyed and let out a low sound of pain as she felt as if her torso was _grinding_ back into place. The man winced. “I’m Sir Junn by the way,” he introduced.

“Asivia, as Henry said,” she responded and Sir Junn smiled a bit, gently pushing her back into the chair when she tried to stand.

He was gentle as he began to make sure that all of her injuries were, mostly, healed and Henry stated, “Wow, you really do never use your last name.”

“Last names aren’t common outside of noble families, or outside of families that used to be noble. What is your last name?” Sir Junn explained.

“Izo. Asivia Izo,” she responded and she felt Sir Junn twitch slightly, almost as if flinching.

“Izo? Interesting name. Anyone in your family work around here?” he questioned.

Asivia looked away from him briefly, thinking for a moment about her father who fought, and died, for Lore.

“Yes,” Asivia responded.

 Sir Junn merely nodded and focused back down on making sure that there were no other injuries she was hiding.

He stood up just as another patient was hauled in. “Oh, by the Avatars, _stop provoking the bees!_ ” he exclaimed and Henry shook his head before he smiled at Asivia.

“I have to go, but it was nice to meet you, Asivia,” he answered and Asivia nodded a bit and waved shyly.

She groaned and hid her face in her hands when Samus leapt up and decided to attack him.

Henry stumbled and whirled around to stare at the strange thing before Samus quickly bounced back over to the now very embarrassed Asivia. Sir Junn shook his head a bit and Samus just seemed to bounce with pride.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

When Sir Junn released her, Asivia found that getting Captain Rolith’s attention was next to impossible.

So, she mostly just started helping out around the Keep. Sneevils were irritating, and she liked Sir Junn, so she spent most of her time collecting honey for him. She kept trying, to get Captain Rolith’s attention, but ended up having to wait till after noon (and eating in the mess with everyone else, who kept shooting her odd looks) before she was _finally_ able to get his attention.

“WHAT?” he shouted and Asivia winced.

Once the situation was explained (shouted at) to her, Asivia let out a low sigh and took off.

This was going to be a long, long, day.

She could tell.


	5. A Bandit Attack, a Blue Moglin, a Bear, and Hydra Heads

Falconreach was ‘straight down the road, through the Oaklore Forest, past the caves, and across the bridge’.

The long drawn out direction was enough to make Asivia wish she could just turn around and go home. This was far,  _far_  more trouble than it should have been, in her opinion. She shifted her weight and sighed, leaning lightly on her staff.

She had spent a week helping around Oaklore Keep after helping the Priestess and losing the Dragon Egg Box (which she still felt guilty over). In that time she had received a few staffs, a cloak, and a ring in exchange. Most of the stuff she collected she had sold back to the Keep, which was the only reason she had the ‘Hydra’s Woe’ staff at all.

It had taken a long time to get it and she still found herself wishing she was able to use her own body as a conductor for the needed element. She pinched the bridge of her nose and wondered if it would be bad form to take off for home when she was expected in Falconreach. “Probably,” she muttered softly.

She let out a sigh and stood up properly before she continued on her way to Falconreach.

With her luck, she was going to end up unconscious and tied to a tree.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Of course," she muttered, watching as the bandits dropped down from the tree tops.

"Give us your gold or your life," one of the bandits demanded and she frowned slightly at them before she leaned on her staff.

“I really don’t feel like handing my hard earned gold over to lazy guys like you who sit around in tree tops and hope to catch passing travelers unawares. And hope that when you _do_ drop down on them, that they are not actually powerful people,” she stated, tapping her fingers against the metal fixtures of her staff.

“Your life it is then,” the leader stated and all three immediately went at her.

She threw up her shield and scowled at them from behind it before she immediately began to move, backing herself away from them and attempting to keep her back to trees. She managed not to trip for seven back steps before she either snagged herself on her own robe or hit a tree root or a combination of the two, but she was on her back and, without thinking, she brought her hand up and sent an ice blast at all three, sending them flying. She stood up shakily, ignoring the way the ice crystals clung to her hand, and she stared at where they unconscious on the ground. She hesitated and then shook her hand off, sending ice crystals into the ground.

She took a deep breath and turned around, continuing on her way. She would leave them for the knights to find. There would be a patrol coming through soon, if she remembered correctly.

And with that, she continued on, feeling ragged around the edges.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Asivia had been walking for nearly half an hour when she came across a bear larger then herself…while lying down, with a blue Moglin standing on a tree stump. “Don’t worry Mage,” the blue Moglin stated and she looked over at him.

“He’s fast asleep. Just keep quiet and he won’t wake up,” the Moglin explained.

She smiled at the Moglin warmly and answered, “Thank you.”

She began to walk forward and suddenly the Moglin shouted, “WAKE UP BEAR! LUNCHTIME!”

Asivia let out a curse in being so foolishly naïve as she had just been and threw up her shield just in time to keep herself from being shredded. She sent another flare of ice at the bear, followed quickly by a fireball. She backpedaled as fast as she could, though that didn’t save her from a bear bite. She let out a soft gasp and channeled the energy in her staff to the bear.

It let out a roar and released her swiping at her ineffectively and she managed to blast it one more time before a paw connected with her side, sending her sprawling to the ground. She twisted and sent off another blast from her staff, causing it to sway before it collapsed.

She scrabbled to her feet, holding her shoulder and wincing at the way her fingers were slowly being stained red. When she looked around for the Moglin, however, she found him gone and she frowned slightly before she released her shoulder briefly to fetch a potion. She winced as she felt muscle knit back together, and she pulled her hand away to carefully check over the area, sighing over the destroyed robes, and clothing underneath. “What’s next, a talking rock that needs me to battle him to gain ultimate power?” she grumbled and continued on her way.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sir Pent was…interesting. He spoke of Hydras and a rumored cave. However, she just wanted to get to Falconreach, to find whoever was supposed to meet her and get back the box and return it to the Priestess, egg and all.

That’s all she wanted.

She thanked him and walked toward the bridge, calm and quiet.

And then it rumbled.

And then the bridge center broke apart and three hydra heads rose up, piercing the sky.

“Oh, by the Elementals,” she whimpered out, and she braced herself behind her staff as the first hits of water cascaded over her, covering her in slime and fish guts.

Well, today just got worse.


	6. Author's Note and Rewriting

To any who are reading the series this is attatched to...I am going to be rewriting it entirely. I am going to just restart on this, but I don't want to delete or orphan the works, so it will stay here, but I will be completely rewriting it.

I apologize to those who have been enjoying this so far and are, in fact, liking this, but on the bright side, a new work based off of this will rise from the ashes.

(I hope you enjoy that work, but I have grown as a writer and my plot, aside from following the game's, wasn't well-formed, so I will be trying again. Hope you enjoy the other. Thank you.)

Also, sorry that this is an author's note and not a chapter, for those who wanted more.


End file.
